


The Flame

by Kalloway



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22910533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Before Sylvain heads home, he takes some time to think...
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Kudos: 36
Collections: 31 Days 2020, The Lemonade Cafe





	The Flame

**Author's Note:**

> For 31 Days, Feb 2/I weary for desires never guessed, for alien passions, strange imaginings,to be some other person for a day.

He'd slipped out of the latest party early without a word to anyone other than Dimitri. Nobody would miss him, really. They'd all assume he'd found someone or someones more interesting than a third night of feasting. He knew how it was... He knew exactly what he'd been doing for so many years... 

Sylvain stared up into the darkness, quiet, enjoying the silence of the small suite he'd snagged as his own for the few days after he'd accompanied Dimitri back to Fhirdiad. The bed was soft and it wouldn't be terrible to share it with someone, but not in his usual ways. 

That was it, wasn't it? This was a his last gasp of a certain type of freedom. When he returned home, it would be back to discussions of marriage or marriages, maintaining the House, heirs, and a thousand other things that Sylvain would accept as his weight at the same time he wished he could walk away. 

"It's been nice," Sylvain said softly to the ceiling. The last months had been anything but, yet... 

He didn't dare dwell. He closed his eyes, trying to will worse and worse thoughts away as if that ever made any difference. 

Maybe this had been a mistake. Maybe he was better off going back to the feast and finding someone. 

Maybe-- 

There was a soft knock, barely audible, at the hallway door. The latch lifted slowly and Sylvain tensed. He hadn't locked it. He'd just send whoever it was away... Did they think to wait for him as some sort of offering? 

"You didn't tell me you were leaving." Felix's voice bit through the dark as the door closed and the latch fell back into place. 

Sylvain heard the lock. 

"I know you're here," Felix continued as his footsteps grew closer. "Light a lantern before I fall over something." 

It took a moment, but Sylvain did just that, his own flame sparking a small bedside lantern as he circled the bed. 

"What are you doing here?" Sylvain knew that Felix hadn't lacked for attention, either. 

"Being where I'm supposed to be," Felix replied sharply as he moved through the second doorway to stare at Sylvain. "Did you think I wouldn't notice you'd left? Or that I wouldn't understand what's on your mind?" 

"I..." The words didn't make it out. They were wrong, anyway, as Felix circled the bed and sat, reaching to pull his boots off in silence. 

For a long moment, there was only the sound of clothing and bedding and caged flame. Sylvain didn't have the right words for what he wanted to say. 

Finally, Felix looked at him, stripped down to what could be reasonably slept in as he reached for the covers he'd already turned down. 

"I'm here," he said before tugging his hair down. It fell loose and ragged around his face, his expression unreadable. 

Sylvain nodded and wondered what to do about the lantern. Whether or not to plunge the room back to darkness. 

If... 

"You're not the only one unsure about morning," Felix continued. "I heard everyone else saying the same things. I might as well hear them from you." 

"Thanks, Felix." 

Felix moved to crawl into the bed, shadows shifting across his face. "Put the lantern out if it won't be pretty." 

Sylvain almost chuckled. It wouldn't be. Yet... there was no sense hiding, either. Not from Felix, and not from himself. 

"I'll leave it burning," Sylvain replied as he finally peeled up his own covers and crawled beneath them. Felix was closer than he expected and didn't draw away at his touch. "I'll leave it burning til..." 

Felix didn't draw away at his touch or his tears, his words often failing him. It was awkward and would have been awful with anyone else, but Sylvain couldn't help himself once he'd started. He laid himself bare- things he knew Felix knew, things he likely didn't, so much else, so much... 

The lantern was still burning when he'd finished and Felix reached to pull him closer, against him, not quite warm but more inviting than anyone had ever been. 

The lantern was still burning for that first kiss... 

It was still burning come morning.


End file.
